{"id":67904,"date":"2024-06-07T13:09:40","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/07\/japan-likes-tourists-just-not-this-many\/"},"modified":"2024-06-07T13:09:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:09:40","slug":"japan-likes-tourists-just-not-this-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/07\/japan-likes-tourists-just-not-this-many\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Likes Tourists, Just Not This Many"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/06\/multimedia\/00xp-japan-overtourism-phmw\/00xp-japan-overtourism-phmw-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Japan Likes Tourists, Just Not This Many\" title=\"Japan Likes Tourists, Just Not This Many\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On two recent occasions, a foreign tourist walked into Shoji Matsumoto\u2019s barbershop, through a front door that grates loudly when opened more than halfway, wanting a haircut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One was Italian, the other British. Mr. Matsumoto, who is 75 and speaks neither of their languages, didn\u2019t know what to tell them. He picked up his scissors and began to cut, hoping that his decades of experience would carry him through the stilted encounters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tourists, propelled in part by <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/02\/13\/business\/japan-economy-gdp.html\" title=\"\">a weak yen that makes their money go further<\/a> in Japan, have been pouring into the country ever since it eased its coronavirus-related entry restrictions in 2022. Some officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, have raised concerns about overtourism. In March, there were more than three million international arrivals, a monthly record, and a more than 10 percent jump compared with March 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly two thirds of international visitors tend to be from South Korea, Taiwan and China. Last year, spending from foreign tourists made up about 9 percent of Japan\u2019s gross domestic product.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Popular sites in cities like <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/25\/travel\/kyoto-japan-tourism.html\" title=\"\">Kyoto, Japan\u2019s ancient royal capital,<\/a> feel increasingly unmanageable. Visitors are spilling into previously untouristed places, like small towns near Mount Fuji or the commercial district of Kyoto where Mr. Matsumoto cuts hair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBefore, it was normal to see tourists in certain spots,\u201d Mr. Matsumoto said from a low chair in his barbershop on a recent Saturday. \u201cBut now, they\u2019re spreading out to random and unexpected places.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That influx is testing the patience of a generally polite society.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Kyoto and other heavily visited cities, some residents grumble about being priced out of hotel rooms or crowded out of buses and restaurants. Others say that tourists sometimes disrespect local customs by, say, chasing after geishas to photograph them or eating while walking, a behavior that is considered rude in Japan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One day last month, it took Hiroshi Ban six hours \u2014 twice as long as usual \u2014 to visit Kyoto\u2019s Heian Jingu shrine. Mr. Ban, 65, attributed the delaypartly to tourists who hold up buses by counting out coins for the fare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEvery day feels like a carnival here,\u201d said Mr. Ban, an event organizer. \u201cWe can\u2019t enjoy our daily lives in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even those who directly benefit from tourism revenue worry that it might be unsustainable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hisashi Kobayashi, a taxi driver in Kyoto, said business was so good that taking a day off felt like passing up easy money. But many tourism-related industries were struggling to keep up with demand as they recovered from pandemic-era labor shortages, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhen Japanese people come here, they feel they\u2019re in a foreign land because there are so many tourists,\u201d Mr. Kobayashi, 56, added as his taxi approached a bottleneck near a popular temple. \u201cIt\u2019s not Kyoto anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some rural locations are feeling the strain for the first time. One is Fuji City, about 200 miles by road east of Kyoto in Shizuoka Prefecture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After a bridge with a direct view of Mount Fuji started to become popular on social media late last year, Shizuoka\u2019s tourism department <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C1t8G0_uXR3\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said on Instagram<\/a> that it was a good spot for \u201cbeautiful, dreamlike pictures.\u201d Left unsaid was that the bridge sat in a residential area with no visitor parking spaces, public toilets or garbage cans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many visitors littered, parked in driveways and in some cases dodged traffic to take photos from the bridge\u2019s median strip, residents said in interviews.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over a public holiday last month, about 300 tourists arrived daily for four days, standing in a line for photos that coiled down the street, said Mitsuo Kato, 86, who lives by the bridge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey just park here,\u201d Mr. Kato said outside his home on a recent Sunday, as groups of tourists from South Korea diligently took photos of clouds that were obscuring Mount Fuji. \u201cSo we had to put up signs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Officials across Japan have been responding to the tourism surge with varying degrees of efficacy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Fuji City, the authorities erected a makeshift six-car parking lot and started to build a larger one that would fit 15 cars and include a bathroom, said Motohiro Sano, a local tourism official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a neighboring prefecture, Yamanashi, officials in the town of Fujikawaguchiko put up a billboard-size screen last month to deter tourists from photographing a Lawson\u2019s convenience store<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>whose blue awning sits beneath the mountain and became a staple of social media posts. The screen is now dotted with holes large enough to fit a phone camera lens, the local news media <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/nhkworld\/en\/news\/20240530_37\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Shibuya, a heavily visited area of Tokyo, officials announced <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yomiuri.co.jp\/national\/20240531-OYT1T50079\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">plans to ban drinking alcohol outdoors at night<\/a> in an attempt to curb bad behavior by young people and tourists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And in Kyoto, where signs in train stations ask visitors to \u201cmind your manners,\u201d the government began running special buses for tourists this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the city\u2019s Nishiki market, where some residents have complained of finding grease stains on their clothing after squeezing through throngs of snacking tourists, Yoshino Yamaoka gestured to two signs hanging outside her barbecue eel restaurant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Both said in English, \u201cNo eating while walking.\u201d One had a larger font, and its text was underlined in red.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPeople weren\u2019t following it, so I put up this one with a stricter tone,\u201d Ms. Yamaoka, 63, said of the bolder sign. But she wondered whether her new approach was too strict.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBusiness depends on the tourists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To beat the crowds on a recent weekend, some tourists visited popular Kyoto sites at sunrise or waited 40 minutes to eat at a popular ramen joint at 11 p.m. A few complained about the congestion they had helped to create.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a disaster,\u201d said Paul Oostveen, 70, a tourist from the Netherlands, after leaving the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, a popular attraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">From his empty barbershop, Mr. Matsumoto said that he had successfully cut the hair of his two foreign clients and that he wouldn\u2019t turn away others who stumbled through his door.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he worried about providing good quality service to customers he couldn\u2019t understand, he said, and would prefer that non-Japanese speakers go elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even though tourism is good for the nation, he added over the drone of a radio, \u201cThere\u2019s a part of me that\u2019s not fully content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/07\/world\/asia\/japan-mount-fuji-kyoto-tourism.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On two recent occasions, a foreign tourist walked into Shoji Matsumoto\u2019s barbershop, through a front door that grates loudly when opened more than halfway, wanting a haircut. One was Italian, the other British. Mr. Matsumoto, who is 75 and speaks neither of their languages, didn\u2019t know what to tell them. He picked up his scissors [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/06\/multimedia\/00xp-japan-overtourism-phmw\/00xp-japan-overtourism-phmw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[92,30502,5773],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67906,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67904\/revisions\/67906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}